Malaria and children: Progress in intervention coverage - Unicef

Large increases in funding and attention
have greatly accelerated malaria control
activities across sub- Saharan Africa
13
Malaria and children
Box 3 Malaria and the Millennium Development Goals
2
The Millennium Development Goals are a set of
eight internationally agreed goals that commit countries
to reducing poverty in all its forms by 2015 (see
table). Goal 6 focuses on combating HIV/AIDS, malaria
and other diseases, and one of its targets is to
have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence
of malaria and other major diseases. The specific
indicators for monitoring progress towards this
target include:
Malaria and the Millennium Development Goals
Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2
Malaria keeps poor people poor, costing Africa
an estimated $12 billion per year in lost GDP
and consuming up to 25 per cent of household
income and 40 per cent of government health
spending. Malaria also contributes to child
malnutrition. While the precise causal links are
unclear, nutritional status is affected by vomiting
and appetite suppression during bouts of malaria
as well as malaria-related anaemia.
Achieve universal primary education
Progress in the fight against malaria
• Indicator 21—Incidence and death rates associated
with malaria. 1
Malaria is a leading cause of illness and absenteeism
in children and teachers in malarious
areas, impairs attendance and learning and can
cause lasting neurological damage in children.
• Indicator 22—Proportion of the population in
malaria-risk areas using effective malaria prevention
and treatment measures, specifically children
under age five who sleep under an insecticidetreated
mosquito net and children under age five
with fever who receive antimalarial treatment.
In addition, it will be difficult to achieve many of the
other Millennium Development Goals, including the
goal of reducing child mortality, in malaria-endemic
countries without substantially reducing the malaria
burden.
Goal 4
Goal 5
Goal 6
Goal 8
Reduce child mortality
Malaria is a leading cause of child mortality in
Africa, accounting for nearly one death in five
among African children under age five.
Improve maternal health
Malaria is four times more likely to strike
pregnant women than other adults and has
life-threatening implications for both mother
and child.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Malaria control will reduce morbidity and mortality
due not only to malaria but to other diseases
(for example, people living with HIV/AIDS are at
greater risk of contracting malaria).
Global partnership for development
Note
1. Indicator 21 originally called for monitoring malaria prevalence,
but the Roll Back Malaria Monitoring and Evaluation
Reference Group recommended monitoring malaria
incidence (the number of new cases of clinical infection)
in the context of Millennium Development Goals reporting,
a change accepted by the Inter-agency Expert Group
on MDG Indicators. See box 4 for more information on
the challenges of monitoring malaria cases and deaths in
sub- Saharan Africa.
The Roll Back Malaria Partnership was
established in 1998 to provide a coordinated
global approach to combating malaria, bringing
together malaria-endemic countries and their
development partners, non-governmental and
community-based organizations, the private
sector, research and academic institutions and
international organizations. In addition, publicprivate
partnerships are currently under way to
improve access to effective malaria treatment
and can serve as a basis for improving access to
other essential medicines.
Source: Adapted from Roll Back Malaria 2005.
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys were recently
conducted in more than 50 countries in
2005–2006—nearly half in malaria-endemic
countries. These data, along with recent data
from the U.S. Agency for International Development–supported
Demographic and Health Surveys
and the Malaria Indicator Surveys, allow for
a new and more comprehensive assessment of